Photo of the Day, Boston Style - Part Deux

[lexicon506]

We're more like those places than not.

I would have to disagree with you on that point...

pip @ skyscraperpage.com

 

[nico]

The downtown part of Dallas is currently divided by an elevated highway just like we had in Boston and there are highways surrounding the city right up to the developed high-rise area. There are certainly more parking lots, but Dallas is developing like crazy and attracting more people to live downtown.
Dallas currently has more high-rise buildings than we have in Boston (I believe the counts are similar) but they?ll soon blow by us.
I?d say that the differences lie outside the cities where Texas is an endless indistinguishable set of highways spotted with the same fast food chains, and Massachusetts is a web of mangled streets.

 

[JoeGallows]

My, my! I wasn't commenting on the density of the city, trust me; I would never knock that. I simply chose that shot of mine simply because, within in the frame only, nothing is identifiably Boston (or much of anywhere for that matter). City Hall might give it away, but it's hardly visible. I was trying to play off of kz's desolate shot.

 

[kz1000ps]

^ No kidding, people have gone and got their panties in quite the twist..

 

[Ron Newman]

If you're talking about the photo of the tunnel ramp, Boston City Hall is visible in the picture. This instantly identifies its location.

 

[czsz]

Um, I doubt a random sample of even Bostonians would be able to identify City Hall the way it sits in that photo.

 

[JoeGallows]

Um, I doubt a random sample of even Bostonians would be able to identify City Hall the way it sits in that photo.

That's exactly what I was going for.

 

[JoeGallows]

And now, to amend any misgivings from my prior photo, here is a photo which proves beyond doubt Boston is unlike any of the aforementioned cities.

Link

 

[Ron Newman]

From Kevin Lynch's The Image of the City, 1960:

Boston seems in some ways to be a "one-sided" city, which loses precision and content as one moves away from the Charles River edge.

 

[kz1000ps]

 

[castevens]

And now, to amend any misgivings from my prior photo, here is a photo which proves beyond doubt Boston is unlike any of the aforementioned cities.

Link

What a wonderful picture of Dallas City Hall

 

[JoeGallows]

From Kevin Lynch's The Image of the City, 1960: Boston seems in some ways to be a "one-sided" city, which loses precision and content as one moves away from the Charles River edge.

Interesting find, Ron, especially since the passage is from 1960. I could see that being true in Back Bay, with the Prudential Center having just begun to stretch and cover over the rail yard, adding not so much precision but content anyway, especially in the form of the visual landmark that is the Prudential tower. What of the removal of Scollay Square? It was certainly not short on content, but fairly removed from the banks of the Charles. Perhaps its removal supports this statement? However, then came the clearance of the West End, being right on the banks of the Charles. Could this statement hold true today?

Unless, of course, this refers to the odd area that is Comm. Ave. west of Kenmore Square where one encounters residential high rises just around the corner from single family homes in Brookline.

Also, what of Cambridge, I wonder? To me, it seems the Cambridge side of the river (at least the basin, anyway) lacks both content and precision. It isn't until one is further inland that Cambridge truly becomes Cambridge.

Perhaps I'm babbling.

What a wonderful picture of Dallas City Hall

No no no. Don't you recognize Jefferson City, MO when you see it?

 

[czsz]

My, Annapolis has grown!

How about an unmistakably unique photo of Boston that's not of the Back Bay or Beacon Hill (or even the North and South End, for that matter)? These neighborhoods comprise maybe 3 square miles in total...I'm willing to bet that, in total, Boston has more square mileage of parking lot and highway than redbrick rowhouse.

 

[Suffolk 83]

^ anybody else sick of this guy's negative attitude towards everything?

 

[statler]

^^Nope.

 

[Ron Newman]

How about an unmistakably unique photo of Boston that's not of the Back Bay or Beacon Hill (or even the North and South End, for that matter)?

Perhaps the South Boston beachfront (Day Boulevard to Castle Island), or the Dorchester gas tank, or Jamaica Pond?

^ anybody else sick of this guy's negative attitude towards everything?

Hard to answer when I don't know which "this guy" you are referring to.

 

[lexicon506]

How about an unmistakably unique photo of Boston that's not of the Back Bay or Beacon Hill (or even the North and South End, for that matter)?

How about an unmistakably unique photo of New York that's not of Manhattan or Brooklyn (or even the bridges and islands, for that matter)?

C'mon czsz, you can't expect every square mile of a city to be unique. You're crossing off all the instantly unique neighborhoods of Boston and then complaining that the city isn't unique enough....a bit unfair, isn't it?

Did something happen recently that made you all of a sudden negative about Boston?

But to answer your question, I'm sure a photo from the harbor showing Logan Airport, the islands, and the skyline would be unique. Not to mention a photo showing the Citgo sign with Fenway Park in the background. And you can't deny the uniqueness of the rows of triple-deckers in Dorchester. Or how about a photo of a narrow street lined with gas lamps and wood-paneled houses leading up a steep hill to an imposing obelisk at the very top? Can you guess what neighborhood that is (hint: it's not the Back Bay, Beacon Hill, North End, or South End)?

 

[Ron Newman]

Yankee Stadium -- though it will be gone in another year.

I think any commercial block of Flushing or Jackson Heights would have an "only in New York" feel, just because of all the juxtaposed ethnic businesses.

 

[czsz]

The thing is - there's a lot more of Manhattan and Brooklyn (and they're a far greater percentage of New York) than there is of recognizeable Boston. Beyond that, much of the Bronx is also recognizeable as New York.

Look, I criticize because I want this city to be better. Selective photography and blind boosterism tends to miss the fact that when you look at this city from random angles, the results are not always picturesque. We need to root out every instance in which this city resembles anonymous corporate wastelands like Dallas and expose them to rigorous critique if we're really concerned about this city living up to its aesthetic promise.

 

[Ron Newman]

I'd say most of Boston looks more like Uphams Corner, or Roslindale Square, or JP's Centre Street, or East Broadway in Southie, than it does like either the familiar tourist postcards or Dallas's "anonymous corporate wastelands".